Trial by Fire

Original Premiere: January 11, 2005

My
original notion for “Trial by Fire” came relatively early in Season Five.It was the capture of Saddam Hussein that
initially caught my attention for a potential episode, but I wasn’t certain
that it would be an interesting episode until the lawyers got
involved.Quite frankly, I was amazed
that an American lawyer would actually volunteer to defend the former Iraqi
dictator…To put the situation in a
less political light, say that the Canadian Toothpick Killer did in your
beloved brother.Everyone is really
upset (as they should be), but when the vile suspect is finally caught, your
Mom decides that the Toothpick Killer needs her legal counsel.Why on Earth would Mommy do that?I don’t know…Suffice to say, Alan Christopher was stricken with the same
quandary in this very episode.

Bringing
Xi'Yor into the fold was a relatively easy decision.In fact, I never considered using anybody else.Unfortunately, nobody really believed his
whole defection story—and rightfully so.Time and again, Xi'Yor had proven his devious nature, and logically,
this time would be no different.Early
on, I tried to raise some doubt… suggest that maybe he did really
defect, but it became increasingly obvious that Xi'Yor would never do
that.So he had to be up to
something—and the thrust of the episode was to try and figure out what
the Overseer was up to…Hence the
need for Nicholas O’Connor.

When
I decided to bring in a lawyer for this episode, I knew that I needed somebody
vile.The hated Admiral O’Connor was
the first person that came to mind, but she fell over dead during Season Four,
so… I gave her a son.I figured if
there was one person that could really get under Christopher’s skin, it
would be the spawn of Alexis O’Connor.It was almost a shame that I had to kill him, because it would have been
fun to bring him back for more torturous fun.But then again, I’m not too fond of all that lawyer stuff, so it would
have been a pain to keep coming up with “lawyer talk” for him.Believe it or not, when O’Connor quoted the
Federation Constitution, I was able to draw from… the real thing.

The
other plot thread—regarding Erin and the stem cell research—really came out of
nowhere.I had always wanted to
do an episode about stem cell research, but I had never been able to find the
right story to go with it.At one
point, late in Season Four, I was considering using the stem cells to resurrect
poor Cleo (the cat, for those of you who don’t recall).But between you and me, I didn’t really want
to see an entire episode devoted to resurrecting a wee little kitty, no matter
how soft and cute it might have been.So I shelved the idea and assumed the stem cell episode would not be
made…But then, out of the blue, I gave
Erin some pretty serious injuries in “Rebena Te Ra,” and in my haste to finish
that episode, I did not bother to resolve that particular plot thread.So it had to carry over into “Trial by
Fire.”

Whilst
writing “Rebena Te Ra,” I hadn’t really intended to make a big deal out of Erin’s
injuries.(To be honest, it was just
filler.)But now that I had this plot
thread in “Trial by Fire,” I had to really flesh out the plot—because it would
have been really disappointing to come into this episode with Erin completely
healed.Then I would have been
admitting that the plot really was filler.So… I immediately called upon the stem cell debate.Again, Alan takes my opinion… mainly because
he is me.Except he probably
gets laid a bit more frequently.

In
the episode, Sarah magically whips up some biosynthetic implants for Erin.Because I’m not a medical expert, I kind of
glossed over the explanation, but I think it’s reasonable enough… but at the
same time, I knew that the more viable treatment was a simple injection of stem
cells.If my understanding is correct,
those magical little guys could have gone right to Erin’s kidneys and repaired
all of the damage… but I intentionally shied away from that particular approach
because it was not quite as dramatic as the surgery.I mean, a little injection doesn’t seem like a big deal, but
surgery… oh yeah, that’s drama.Nobody wants to get sliced open.

As
you can see, the pieces to the episode were coming together nicely.I got the first few chapters typed up with
ease… and then something unusual happened—I got a rare case of writer’s
block.I was nearing the end of the
episode, and much to my chagrin, I didn’t quite know how to finish it.I wasn’t happy with my outline, so I wound
up just sitting in front of the computer.Staring.Hoping that some sort
of viable solution would come to mind.And then I said, “Screw this, I’m going over to Katie and Jeremy’s to
play some Smash Brothers Melee.”On the
way there, I slipped into an alternate dimension… and subsequently had my first
encounter with the Michigan State Police.Yes, this unfortunate case of writer’s block culminated in a traffic
stop.Thankfully, I was able to avoid
getting a ticket—and that probably had something to do with the fact the
officer didn’t want to see my soil myself.Of course, I was packing heat, so if the mofo tried to ticket me, I
woulda capped his ghetto ass, cuz he wuzn’t givin me my props.Yeah.Really.

Anyway,
the moment the kind officer left, my cell phone rang.And I was being laughed at.Yes, my friends were driving right behind me.And they saw the whole incident.But the evening quickly deteriorated.Since I live in Michigan, and it was January, there was SNOW all over
the place.And naturally, two minutes
after the traffic stop, my car got stuck in a snow bank.Naturally, my cell phone rang again, and I
was greeted with additional laughter.The five-minute trip to Katie’s abode took twenty-five minutes.And once I finally got there (in case you’re
even moderately interested), Smash Brothers Melee was equally unfortunate.I nearly guided Link to victory, but was
thwarted when a renegade sausage—lobbed out of Mr. Game & Watch’s fry
pan—intercepted the Master Sword and sent poor Link to his unfortunate
demise.The indignity.

Getting
back to the episode…“Trial by Fire” is
the first episode to sort-of deal with the oft-mentioned tension between
Captain Christopher and Admiral Riker. To be perfectly honest, I have no
idea what actually happened aboard the Titan to inspire this tension—in
fact, it was just a throwaway reference back in “Lost Worlds.”But for some reason, people picked up on it…
Some have assumed the incident with Illidan featured in “The Oracle of Ages”
was the catalyst for the tension—others proposed a young Ensign Christopher
tried to hit on Deanna Troi.Whatever
the case, it is a story for another place and time…

This
episode also deals with another one of TFF’s more volatile relationships—the
one between Sarah and Erin.Now, the
feud between the two of them has certainly mellowed since the big spat in… that
Season Four episode that featured the big spat… but since we are moving into
the final few episodes of TFF, I wanted to start bringing these relationships
some closure.Additionally, I needed
to find a way for the stem cell storyline to end (this was the reason I had
writers block in the first place).Obviously, I could have had Erin simply change her mind and have
the surgery, but that would have been taking the easy way out.I also considered having Alan somehow force
Sarah to perform the surgery, but that seemed WAY too unethical… and it would
have stolen the spotlight away from Erin.I wanted Erin to be the one deciding her fate—but since she made that
decision relatively early in the episode… the ending was rather difficult.It was only after that incident with the
cops that I decided the story needed to end with a sense of understanding.Sarah understood Erin.Erin understood Sarah.Readers understood that Erin wasn’t a
loon.And that last bit was the most
important—Erin has always been a very logical young lady… and I felt very
strongly that I needed to justify her stance when it came to stem cells.Incorporating Erin’s love of friends and
family made perfect sense, and since it brought Sarah into that fold, so much
the better.I was really pleased with
the outcome.

Now,
since “Trial by Fire” had more of a proper ending than its three
predecessors—both of its major plot threads were resolved within the confines
of the episode—I was left in a most unfortunate position.I didn’t have a big cliffhanger entice
readers back for “The Treachery of a Queen.”I had originally intended for Xi'Yor to personally strangle
O’Connor.Even in its current state,
you can see that final scene with Xi'Yor is headed in that direction… but since
I wanted a cliffhanger… the legendary “O’Connor Conspiracy” was born.Just about everyone who commented on “Trial
by Fire” expressed some curiosity about the ending.Just how did that lecherous airbag fall over dead?How did that fetid piece of refuse get
reduced to a pile of ash?What the hell
happened?